With a shout, they all started digging into the cross. Three spades bit the ground, while the Penguin scuffed at it with his feet, throwing sand and rocks behind him in a great plume. They worked deeper and deeper until, with a loud CLUNK, the Crew hit something solid.

They scrabbled with hands and flippers to clear what they soon saw was a large wooden chest. It had a small copper plate on its lid. Salt and sand had eaten at it, but Eddy could still read out the words that were engraved on it – LOOK INSIDE.

The Captain stood back, panting with the effort.

“Grungeybeard’s treasure chest! I wants to savour this moment,” he said. “We are going to be rich beyond our wildest dreams.”

“Are you sure about that?” said the Penguin. “Because when it comes to being rich, my dreams get very wild indeed.”

They heaved at the lid and it slowly began to move.

“This is it!” shouted the Captain, and with one last tug they forced the chest wide open. They peered excitedly inside. But instead of heaps of gold and precious stones, the sunlight fell on a small, dull, brown brick.

“Dodgy bottom!” shouted the Captain.

“This is no time to discuss your medical problems,” said the Penguin.

“No,” said the Captain. “I mean the chest must have a dodgy bottom, with a secret compartment underneath it where the treasure is hidden!”

He tossed the brick over his shoulder, and smashed at the bottom of the chest with his spade. After a few lusty blows, the wood began to splinter. And suddenly, they could all see…sand.

“Real bottom,” said the Penguin.

“I don’t understand,” said the Captain. “Where’s Grungeybeard’s treasure?”

“Hang on a minute,” said Eddy. “Where’s that brick?”

He picked it up and sniffed it. It had a familiar smell. Where had he smelled that before?

Oh, no. He felt a sinking feeling in his stomach.

“Captain,” he said, “remind me. How did you know we were on Grungeybeard’s trail?”

“It was my dream,” said the Captain. “I saw his name written across the sky.”

“And how was it spelled?”

“I remember there were two ‘guhs’ and a ‘nuh’ and a ‘ruh’ at the start,” said the Captain. “And a ‘buh’ and a ‘ruh’ and a ‘duh’.”

“I see,” said Eddy. “Grungeybeard has all those letters. But so does…gingerbread.” He held up the dull, brown brick. “The word you saw in the sky wasn’t Grungeybeard. It was gingerbread.”

The Captain shuffled uncomfortably from one foot to the other.

“Ooh,” he said. “Ahhh.”

“The map was never leading us to treasure,” Eddy said sadly.

“Oh, dear,” said the Crew. “That is a bit disappointing. Still, at least we had a lovely adventure.”

“Why do you always have to look on the bright side?” said the Penguin. “It’s really depressing.”

“It could be worse,” said the Captain. He was blushing bright pink. “I mean…oh, I don’t know what I mean. And it couldn’t be worse. I don’t even like gingerbread.”

“Somebody must have a very strange sense of humour,” said the Crew. “To make the magic map and work out the tasks and bury this chest. It’s a lot of effort for a bit of cake.”

“You’re right,” said Eddy. “That’s very odd. Unless we’re missing something.”

“Like what?” said the Crew. “The sign said look inside. And we did.”

“Maybe we haven’t looked at the right inside,” said Eddy. “I wonder.” He threw the gingerbread brick on the ground, took a spade, and whacked it as hard as he could.

The gingerbread shattered into a billion crumbs. And one other thing.

“Look!” said Eddy. “There was a piece of paper baked into it.”

He picked it up. There was writing on it. Neat, round, old-fashioned handwriting.

“This must be what we were meant to find,” said Eddy, smoothing out the paper and brushing off the crumbs. “It’s a poem.”

“A treasure beyond price,” repeated the Captain. “I likes the sound of that.”

“Me too,” said Eddy. “That’s a lot more than we’ll need to save Gran’s cottage. The poem is very bossy, though.”

“Never mind that. Grungeybeard or no Grungeybeard, I reckons this is all going to turn out just right.”

“Why did you have to say that?” said the Penguin. “It’s asking for everything to go just wrong.”

“Stop being such a misery,” said the Captain.

“Oh,” said the Captain.

“What did I tell you?” said the Penguin.

“Perhaps they won’t spot us,” said the Crew. “Perhaps they won’t bother with us if they do.”

“Cooooooeeeeeee! Little Codcake!” Barracuda Bill bellowed. “I be a-coming to get you!”

“You were saying?” said the Penguin.